


First Time Buyers

by jenish (phizzle)



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-03-24
Updated: 2005-03-24
Packaged: 2017-10-07 20:56:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/69159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phizzle/pseuds/jenish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For anne_elliot. Beta by nifty_geek.</p>
    </blockquote>





	First Time Buyers

**Author's Note:**

> For anne_elliot. Beta by nifty_geek.

Dom was never sure how they ended up in New York. But, here they were, apartment in the city and everything. They both had a lot of theatre work and Billy'd just got back from Europe filming some project that he'd enthused for weeks about before even getting it, eyes shining and smile so contagious Dom had glowed for a good fortnight just from the light of it.

Horatio seemed to like it here, too, and though there wasn't space for Dom's lizards – he'd kept some ever since _Lost_ and the geckos and Karma had won his heart – they were being taken good care of. Sometimes, Evie would hold the phone close to them and Dom would say hi, hoping something of the vibrations of his voice got through.

All in all, things were looking pretty okay here. The weather was all right, the apartment was nice, he **adored** the work he was getting, and most important of all, Billy was here.

That was, probably, the biggest surprise of all, really. That Billy had moved from Scotland. The way he'd put it, though, made sense and sometimes floored Dom speechless when he remembered it.

"Way I see it," Billy had said, eyes soft and speaking slow, as if trying to remember a speech long thought-out in his mind, "Scotland's home, right? It's where I grew up, where my family is, where a lot of my friends are. It's a place I'll always go back to, even if it's just visiting, even if there was no one left there that I knew. It's not so much the people, now, as the _place_," and he'd turned to Dom, the look in his eyes so … Dom gave up trying to define it. He breathed in, sharp, to see it. "It's a part of me, Dom. I'll never really leave it, wherever I am.

"It's my home, I know that. Home is where the heart is, right? And yeah, my heart's in Scotland, good portion of the rest of me's there, too. But Dom, _you're_ my home. Home isn't just what's inside you, the place where you belong – home is where you _make_ a home. I think here, with you, could be home for me."

Dom had taken a deep breath, wrapped his arms around Billy, and kissed him softly. "I think so, too," he'd whispered.

Six months in, and Billy had come back early from the theatre. "I didn't get lost!" he'd beamed. "Not _once_!" Dom had laughed, hugged him, and ventured forth the opinion that they really were settling into the city. Billy had touched his nose to Dom's, eyes wrinkled in the smile still playing on his lips. "I like that. It's really becoming home."

It wasn't until now, Dom reflected - Horatio straining at his lead, Dom stopped dead in the middle of an unfamiliar street staring almost unblinking at a house he'd never seen before _and where the hell has it **been** all my life?_, mouth hanging open a little - that the city, this place, really _had_ been completely home, to him. Oh, it had been home enough, but give him a roof and a bed and a Billy and he was all set as far as a home would go – but now, **now**, this was something different.

Once his limbs began moving again, he practically _dragged_ Horatio back to the apartment, startled Billy out of a nap (_long_ previous night, last of a run, party going on until both their eyes had crossed and they'd made their excuses, falling into bed and to sleep under a pattern of soft kisses) and pulled him along until they both stood in front of the house again.

"Well?" Dom asked, breathless.

The front door was peeling. A few of the windows were cracked; all were grimy. The garden was overgrown, but closer inspection may or may not reveal that it was bigger than it seemed at first glance. The stones in the paving were cracking, if not cracked entirely in two. Cobwebs, tight and dark, huddled and clung to the doorframe and window frames. Hideous faded pink curtains sagged limply at the upstairs windows. There were none downstairs, and the glimpse inside was to slightly grubby walls, faded wallpaper, picture hooks looking forlorn in the midst of too-bright patterns, not as dusty as where the pictures hadn't been. A leaf detached itself from the creeper growing up the outside walls, as if the house itself were flaking to pieces. The For Sale sign looked as if one well-aimed gust of wind would knock it flat on its arse.

Billy looked. Billy blinked. Billy's mouth opened, and he began to breathe hard. He turned to Dom, gripping his hand tightly.

"Y--Th--I--" He stopped, mouth working.

"I know, right?" Dom nodded vigorously. Horatio snuffled at the gate. "Imagine it with a lick of paint, the garden cleared, bet there's a back garden Horatio'd love to dig up – there'd be room enough for some more of my pets –" He grinned, and Billy laughed, sliding his arm around Dom's waist and leaning into him.

"It's … it's _perfect_." Billy nuzzled Dom's side with his. "I don't know, it feels …"

"…like it's ours," Dom finished, softly.

"Yes."

~*~

When Elijah first walked into Flowery Twats (they _had_ to), his eyes widened. "Jesus, guys, what did you buy this hunk of crap for?" Dom raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

"Oh ye of little faith." He patted Elijah's hair, receiving a Look and a hand knocking his away to smooth the ruffles.

When Viggo walked in, he nodded, looked at Billy, and said, "Project?"

Billy grinned. "Project."

When Miranda walked in, she sneezed (they were stripping the walls and floorboards – not at once, of course – spring turning to something just warm enough for them to paint, windows open, Horatio sleeping peacefully on the lawn outside away from the dust and fumes), held her hand in front of her nose and exclaimed, "Fuck, guys, it's gonna be _beaudiful_, isn't it?"

Dom grinned, hugging her with one arm, the other splattered with the paint he'd been mixing. "Yep. Here, grab something to drink. Billy's outside sunbathing, the lazy sod."

"I _heard_ that," floated in through the patio doors.

When Sean walked in that first time, he stepped back, didn't say anything for a good ten minutes, nodding a little and examining the work they'd done so far. Dom watched him.

"Good choice," Sean said at last, hugging them both. Billy had beamed so hard his face had near cracked in two.

~*~

Five years out from the last of the whirl of _Rings_, they congregated at Flowery Twats, Billy and Dom playing perfect hosts. Everyone piled into the open-plan reception rooms to sleep, talking well into the night, old days and new days, old dreams and new hopes.

Dom was curled into Billy, the two of them sharing a duvet. "I wonder if we'll still be having these things in twenty years," he murmured, sweeping an arm lazily to indicate the room.

Billy kissed his hair. "'Course we will. In twenty years' time, every summer the whole lot of us will be here, having a knees-up, isn't that right, Bean?" He poked the aforementioned Sean, who grunted agreement. "And there'll be those Christmas times at Pete and Fran's."

Dom tucked his head under Billy's chin. "Good. Wouldn't wanna lose this." He yawned.

"Sleepy, are we, young pup?" Billy chuckled. He wriggled Dom closer to his chest. "We won't lose this," whispered into Dom's ear, curving a smile. Dom tightened his arms around Billy.

Dom fell asleep with Billy's arms around him and the sounds of Viggo and Billy talking, of Orlando and Bean teasing each other, of Miranda and David nattering, of Liv and Elijah making up games, of Sean and Ian discussing a script, of Bernard and Cate talking about what they'd seen on telly the night before, filling the air.


End file.
